Most of us have let a gift card reach its expiry by accident, or forgotten to claim a client coffee on work.
There’s perhaps nothing more annoying than realising you have literally been giving away or failing to claim… free money.
This is the feeling 670,000 Australians will have today, upon reading that Medicare has in its possession a total of $110 million in unclaimed rebates.
Side note: If you want to teach your kids about money and the value of it check this out. Post continues after video.
Basically, the government has all of this ‘free’ money sitting in its coffers, because a large chunk of us have failed to provide bank account details so they can be repaid.
Why are we like this.
Think dental appointments, physio, hospital ultrasounds – all of those medical procedures where you’ve paid upfront, and the person who has taken your money says; “don’t worry you’ll get X amount back on Medicare, you just need to claim it.”
It turns out many of us smile and nod, and then just never claim it.
“People need to take responsibility to provide us with their bank account details. We give people ample opportunity to do that and we constantly remind them to update their account details with us,” Human Services Minister Michael Keenan told Nine this morning.
“I would prefer it was sitting in people’s bank accounts rather than ours,” he added.
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The Quicky
